Maiko & The Promise
by skankovich
Summary: Maiko returns to Iwatodai as her father is to remarry, and after some soul-searching realises which point in time she was the happiest. Grim events turn Maiko's world into a cold, unforgiving place.
1. Chapter 1

**Preface: **I've decided to write another Persona 3 fic. Now that I've finished my first year of university, I'm pretty much out of things to do, so I think a lot of writing is on the cards. I haven't written a lengthy piece for a long time now, but I've been toying with the idea of writing about the Social Link character Maiko for a long while now, and it's starting to come about! I expect that I'm a bit rusty after not having written anything besides essays for over a year, but I'm hoping I can let my creativity redevelop as this story does. I doubt it will be too long, but this is just a start. Thank you for reading!

**CHAPTER ONE: Iwatodai, Revisited**

Despite the loud, pumping dance music and the surprisingly tasty pink cocktail that she was stirring restlessly, Maiko Oohashi was in a bad mood that couldn't be shaken off. It was the first time she had been in Iwatodai since moving away seven years ago with her mother. She had come back, because her father was being remarried to a much younger woman, and Maiko was invited. Her mother, however, was not; her parents had a fight about this woman's age, in which her mother called him a 'vile, cradle snatching relic'. For obvious reasons, this resulted in her exclusion from the ceremony. She smiled to herself for the first time that night. At least her parents were talking. It was almost like old times.

Maiko had made the trip to Iwatodai by train that very morning, and after dusk had been roped into coming to Club Escapade with her father's fiancée and her friends who were just as young. Maiko had no idea how she felt about the situation. Her dad was certainly not rich, so it was very doubtful that this woman was a gold digger. Unless it turned out that, her father had hidden a fortune from her and her mother all these years, which honestly would not have been a surprise to her. Then it occurred to her that perhaps the reason she feels so lousy is that accepting this woman into her life means letting go another aspect of her past that isn't ever coming back. Life, death and change, Maiko decided, were the three experiences of life during which she cursed her humanity.

Maiko was seated upstairs on the lounge balcony overlooking the dance floor, which was surprisingly full. Apparently, when the heiress of the Kirijo group assumed control of the company, she took the uncharacteristic task of increasing the funding and work in the Kirijo entertainment complexes. The dank, old Club Escapade which used to barely achieve a profit was replaced by a new, vibrant night spot for the youth of Iwatodai. Even though Club Escapade was now mostly populated by punks, and Gekkoukan High students who have managed to sneak past security, Maiko's future mother-in-law did not look out of place at all. Maiko peered down at her, and thought about exactly how old she may be. She had a mature face, but not too mature; she didn't look a day over 25. She had trendy, flowing black hair, piercing green eyes which were probably black under some novelty contact lenses, and bright blood-red lips. Maiko refused to go down and dance, so she was sitting on the couch, with the women's bags and purses. For undertaking this task, the woman bought her a cocktail and asked her to loosen up and have fun. The likelihood was fairly low, as she was alone upstairs, apart from a much older couple making out on the couch to her left. Awkward. After catching a glimpse of how close this couple was to actually copulating, Maiko grabbed her cocktail and took a long gulp. It was icy, and she could taste the cherry liqueur. She wondered to herself if the woman her father was marrying even knew that she was only sixteen.

_Burn my dread!_

Maiko perked up. She hadn't heard this song since…

"Minato…" she sighed.

"Minato? Who's that?" Her father's young fiancée was back, and quite clearly wasted. "Is he your boyfriend? How long have you been dating? Is he older than you? You ought to tell your father that you're dating. I won't tell, though."

"Um, he was an old friend before I left Iwatodai." Maiko felt incredibly awkward.

"Was? You say that like he's dead or something."  
"Well, funny story," Maiko began, but was cut off.

"Sora!" Maiko looked over to see the woman's friends hollering, and jumping up and down like imbeciles. "Sora, come back! Yumi is buying a round of drinks."

The fiancée eyed Maiko nervously. "Are you staying here?"  
"I suppose I should," Maiko replied.

"Well, all right. I'll come back later, I promise."

Maiko personally couldn't care less. This woman was a run-of-the-mill bimbo. She watched as the woman's impossibly high heels clicked along the tiled floor towards the stairs which lead from the balcony to the dance floor and bar. Another half hour passed, and Maiko had finished two more cherry cocktails which she had acquired when the bartender came up to clear the glasses from the table, and from the couple's table. The couple had apparently had enough of groping each other in front of a minor, so they scurried away, giggling. Maiko decided she'd do the same. Those cocktails made her feel powerful, and surely, she'd be able to convince her father's lover to let her go for a walk. She walked down the stairs, found the fiancée and her friends, and yelled over the music that she was going to 'get some air'.

Once outside of Paulownia Mall, Maiko walked by herself to Moonlight Bridge, and began to cross it. It was an unusually quiet night, and there was no traffic. Maiko took this opportunity to skip down the middle of the road. She looked upward to see the enormous full moon, and then looked ahead to see Naganaki Shrine looming in the distance.

_Burn my dread!_

The tune to the song wormed its way back into Maiko's head, as if to beckon her. She stopped on the road, and hesitated for a moment. Her feelings toward that place were ambivalent, and she didn't know whether she wanted to go back. Before she finished thinking, her legs continued skipping towards the end of the bridge, and after three cocktails, her mind was not in the position to argue. She scaled the stairs out the front of the shrine, and looked around. It was identical to when she left. The playground where she used to spend most of her days after school was still on her left, and the fortune box was to her right, although it was locked with a large chain.

She ran over to the swing set, and started swinging. She burst into laughter, and her thoughts directed themselves back to Minato-kun. Suddenly, it was day again, and the two were playing together on the slide. Minato was laughing, and looked intently at Maiko, before stealing a long, passionate kiss. Maiko snapped back to reality, to night time, to tears welling up in her eyes. She stopped swinging, and traipsed over to the offertory box, shoving her hands deep into her jeans pockets to find any yen she may have on her, as she realised she had left her purse at Escapade.

"50 yen," Maiko mused. "It will do." She threw the money in, and stepped back, as if expecting something to happen. "The spirits probably all think I'm a cheapskate," she said to herself, and turned around. She looked up at the moon again, and then back down, when something white caught her eye. Was it the offertory box paying off after all? It was a poster, stuck to the wall near the bike racks. She ripped it off the wall, and read it.

_NYX_

_The Fall is coming! In Nyx lies salvation! Do not be afraid!_

Maiko recognised that the poster belonged to the cult that took hold of Iwatodai in the months before Minato-kun died.

"The Fall," Maiko mused. "I remember."

She folded the poster and placed it in her pocket before sitting down on the stairs. She remembered the hold that the cult had on Iwatodai. Her parents were no exception. She was too young to understand exactly what salvation Nyx was supposed to bring, but she remembered her father rushing from Iwatodai to be with her and her mother. They were getting along, the family was functioning, and Minato-kun was still alive.

Her thoughts switched to her father's new fiancée. It was quite late, and she was probably being looked for. Maiko scoffed at the thought, and started walking back towards the bridge, away from the shrine. Her thoughts began to stray again, and she began to realise that the happiest time of her life was when The Fall was imminent. The entire way back to Club Escapade, Maiko fantasised about The Fall, about Nyx, and about salvation, and about Minato-kun. Maiko missed The Fall, and there was a small part of her that hoped it would descend upon humanity again.

**To be continued.**


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you for the people who read and subscribed to this story! This is chapter two, I hope it's okay. I've been spending more time writing recently, so hopefully I'll start improving :)

**CHAPTER TWO: Transitioning**

The Oohashi household was dead silent on the Sunday morning. Maiko opened her eyes to the assault of a bright sunbeam from her window, and instantly pulled the ugly duvet her father had bought specifically for her coming over her head, and let out a deep grumble. Maiko's head began to pound as the silence was shattered by a squeaky door from down the hall, and then heavy footsteps heading towards the stairs. Her hatred for her father's fiancée intensified as she stumbled out of her bed and dressed herself, her entire body heavy and stiff.

The kitchen of her father's house was very different to the one in her family's old apartment. Maiko stood dumbly in the doorway, swaying slightly, and trying to figure out what she wanted to eat. It took a while to register that her father was cooking pancakes, and that he was staring directly at her with a puzzled expression.

"Are you okay, Maiko?" He asked suspiciously.

"Good," she mumbled, "I mean, yes." Her father raised an eyebrow, and glanced over at his fiancée, who was sitting at the dining room table, reading a bridal magazine. She looked up to match his glance, looked at Maiko, and then swallowed uneasily.

"I think I've found my perfect wedding kimono," she blurted, "it's pink." Maiko's father left the stove unattended, and walked over to his fiancée. "I thought we decided that we weren't going to have pink," he said sternly.  
"Oh, that's right… so we did." She had tried to distract him from Maiko's very obvious hangover, and it had worked. "Nicely done," Maiko mumbled to herself, as she grabbed a glass from one of many cupboards and filled it with tap water. Her future stepmother tossed the magazine across the table, and grabbed another.

"If we can't have pink, we need flowers like this," she said.

"Sure," Maiko's father said, as he kissed her on the cheek, and made his way back to the kitchen, where, unbeknownst to Maiko, a cloud of smoke was rising from the stove. "Maiko," he yelled, "get that off the stove! What's wrong with you?" The sudden assault on her ears sent a shockwave of pain through her head, and she winced.  
"They're your pancakes, dad. You were supposed to be cooking them."  
"I was busy. You should have been watching."

"I was busy too. That's what you get for trying to cook. I suppose there's a reason you never cooked for us." Her father's fiancée suddenly looked incredibly uncomfortable.

"Maiko, that wasn't called for," her father boomed, "get out of my sight."

"Gladly," Maiko huffed, and stormed out of the front door.

"I'm sorry," her father apologised, "she's not normally like that."

His fiancée squirmed uncomfortably in her seat, and went back to reading bridal magazines in silence.

Maiko wasn't prepared for the brightness outside her father's house, but she'd rather deal with the throbbing head pain than go back inside and deal with her father, his bimbo fiancée, and the smell of horrifically burnt pancakes. As her eyes adjusted to the mid morning sun, and the throbbing in her head dimmed slightly, Maiko decided that she would take the train to Port Island, and spend the entire day out; she was suddenly in a numb and sombre mood, and she needed to move, to see, to yell, to do anything. The short walk to the train station which linked Iwatodai City to Port Island was uneventful, but upon arriving, her chest tightened, and she began to absorb the bleak scene before her like a sponge. A homeless mother and child were slumped against the wall on which hung the timetables for each train service. Commuters all around stared but did nothing, as the child frantically shook and cried out for its mother, who sat motionless. What an inconvenience, they must think, that she chose to die there, in the way of the people who had money, who were better than her. The child continued to cry, and the crowd continued to watch. As Maiko approached, she noticed the syringe next to the homeless woman, and her heart sank. Her heart sank, and the people watched. She took out her phone, and called an ambulance.

The gorgeous, green and wooden rustic décor of the Chagall Café wasn't enough to lift Maiko's spirits, as she had hoped. She looked around at the couples sitting together, and the businessmen and women on their hi-tech devices, and then turned to look across at the comfy looking yet empty green armchair. She took a long sip from the locally renowned Pheromone Coffee. Her mother had forbid it when she lived there, but she had heard that it made you feel a connection with others; charming, some may say. But it didn't work. In fact, she had never felt more alone in her life. She left the mug of coffee half empty, and walked out of the café, and out of the Mall. She checked her watch; it was midday. With a sigh, Maiko brainstormed what was nearby that she could do. The cinema, the bar, the shrine, the strip mall. The shrine. Minato.

"Minato," Maiko sighed. Maiko's feet began moving by themselves, not letting their destination be known to her conscious. In her unconscious, however, a plan was being spun, and it involved reading, research, and more planning. It involved the cult, it involved Nyx, and it involved Minato. As these plans slowly melted into the realm of conscious thought, a smile bent Maiko's mouth at one end. It wasn't a smile of happiness, or a smile of satisfaction, it was a bitter smile, the bitter, twisted smile of someone whose heart is growing colder by the minute. Maiko shivered suddenly, and kept walking.

The Port Island library was a petite building just west of Paulownia Mall, and since she had seen it last, Maiko noticed it was much worse for wear. What used to be a majestic, inviting building now looked more like a stone crypt. As the glass doors shut behind her, and the background noise faded to a mute, she also noticed that the case on the inside was much the same. The smell of dust and mildew washed over her in waves, and she winced. The library was deserted apart from the surprisingly young attendant at the desk, and the shelves contained books lain haphazardly across, and heinously out of order, as Maiko noticed as she approached. The chairs and tables looked rickety, and the computers against the back wall (which happened to be new to Maiko's memory of the library) looked just as old. The place was obsolete, and she felt like she had walked into a tomb.

"Hello," the attendant said from across the room with a wave, "can I help you?"

"I'm… just browsing for now. Thank you, anyway."

"Okay."

Maiko's footsteps seemed thunderous as she made her way over to a computer and sat down.

_Type library card barcode to log in._

Maiko frowned. Her old library card was long gone. She pressed a button, and the computer replied with an angry beep.

"Use mine." The attendant had suddenly appeared behind her, and Maiko jumped.

The attendant looked to be about twenty, having deep green eyes, short, untamed brown hair, and a handsome, unshaved face.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you. Are you new here?" He asked.

"Uh, no," Maiko hesitated, "I used to live here seven years ago."

"Oh, I see." He typed a few numbers and letters, and the computer hummed to life.

"Thanks." Maiko opened the news archive, and began looking for news relating to the cult, and to Nyx. Several news articles appeared, and they mostly reported on the cases of Apathy Syndrome dissolving at the same time as the cult, and interviews with a mysterious man named Takaya, who was believed to be the leader. Maiko also noticed that he seemed to have disappeared after the dissolution of the cult. Maiko's heart sank. Maybe it was all a hoax. Perhaps he was simply a con man, looking to extort a community.

"No," she mumbled to herself, "there are too many coincidences."

The night before the cult disappeared, she knew something was wrong. The sky was green. There was panic. She could _feel_ Minato. She could _feel_ him, and then she couldn't, and then he died. Maiko's mouth twisted into a stern, determined frown, as she pressed 'print' and she stood up. She grabbed each article from the nearby (and equally dilapidated) printers, and approached the attendant.

"Hello, did you need something?"

"I need everything you have on Nyx."

The young man gave her a perplexed look. "Nyx?"

"Do you have anything or not?"

"…Hang on," the attendant said. He walked behind the counter, and into another room. Maiko rolled her neck around, and rested her head in her hands. She didn't feel quite right. The attendant returned quickly, carrying a strange box.

"This should do," he said, handing the box to her. He looked directly into her eyes.

As the weight of the box pushed into Maiko's hands, a head rush washed over her, and somehow, the warmth drained out of her heart. She felt cold, and very tired.

"It's not my place to ask, but… why do you want to know about Nyx?"

"I just do," Maiko mumbled, exhausted. From the pocket of her jeans, she pulled the Nyx poster she kept from the shrine, and put it in the box with everything else.

The attendant stared, and watched as she walked out the door. As soon as the door closed behind her, the attendant grabbed his jacket from the desk, grabbed his keys, and followed after her.

Maiko had barely begun to read the books of mythology, and the dusty prophetic diaries before her head begun to pound again, and the overwhelming urge to sleep had overcome her. She had thought perhaps she needed to eat something, but she didn't want to go into the kitchen; her father and fiancée were back there again, and she could smell overcooked noodles and burnt takoyaki faintly from under her closed door. She had managed to get to her room without seeing or speaking to her father, and she wanted to keep it that way. Maiko glanced fleetingly at her bedside clock as she set the books back down into the box, and noticed that it was barely eight o' clock. In silence, she pushed the box under her bed with her foot, and lay down on her bed, rolling over to face the wall. The drowsiness was worse, the throbbing was worse, and she began to feel cold. Before she could notice any of this, her consciousness had slipped, and she was asleep.

This dream was vivid. Not vivid which leaves you with distinct memories the next morning, but vivid in the sense that Maiko could swear she was awake. She looked around her, and then down at herself. She was wearing a beautiful, strapless white dress, form-fitting and bust-accentuating. She was wearing long white gloves and several diamond bangles on each hand, however, she was not at a party, or a wedding, or a formal event. By the looks of it, she was nowhere. There was a grey, luminescent path outstretched before her, and all around this path, there was nothing. Not sky, not earth, not even a black abyss, simply nothing. Maiko supposed that all she could do was follow the path. The end of the path never seemed to get any closer, and Maiko grew annoyed. She tried to curse, but her voice made no sound. It made no sound at all, yet her vocalisation seemed to summon a large, black figure, which appeared before her and stared directly at her. She couldn't tell what it was. It looked female, and it looked like it was made of perhaps black cloth, black hair, black snakes; it was unclear. Its face was ugly as sin, its eyes were devoid of detail, and its lips were red as freshly spilt blood. Its mouth moved, and like Maiko, made no sound. But she could hear.

_Thou art I, and I am thou._

Maiko noticed its eyes light up. She squinted at the brightness that was suddenly being emitted, and she shielded her eyes with both arms. Looking down at the ground, she noticed something about her dress. It was no longer white, it was a dirty grey just like the tiles that paved the path, and it continued to grow darker. She looked up, and the beast was gone, and the path suddenly had an end. A looming stone door lay at the end of the path, and Maiko noticed that with every step towards it, her dress grew a shade darker, slowly becoming jet black. Maiko pushed the door enormous stone open with unexpected ease, and gazed through. Behind the stone door stood Minato Arisato, holding a ring case. "Maiko," he began delicately. "You're going to need"

Maiko's eyes shot open, as light filled her bedroom. She was confused at first, and checked the time. It was now two o' clock in the morning. She was about to go back to sleep, but she noticed somebody standing by her door, and her heart stopped.

"You're awake," the library attendant said, holding a knife in one hand, and a briefcase in the other, "let's talk."


	3. Chapter 3

_Apologies for the wait to the couple of people that were looking forward to this chapter. I just got home from a holiday with no internet access, and I finished writing this and most of the next chapter. I'll update again soon. I hope this is staying interesting for the people who love Persona as much as I do. _

**Chapter Three: Persona**

Maiko was in a sleepy daze, and it took her a few seconds to register what was happening in her bedroom. As soon as she did, her body tightened in alarm.

"W-Who are you?"

"My name is Ken Amada," the librarian said, brandishing his small kunai. It was silver, and had some sort of red ribbon tied to the handle.

"Did you follow me here? How did you get in?" Maiko's heart was pounding, and her head was spinning. _Thou art I…_

"I decided it was necessary. I got a strange feeling when I met you earlier, and I need to know what your intentions are in researching Nyx. I suppose you are one of the people who remember The Fall, aren't you?"

"Y-yes. A good friend of mine was… involved."

"Oh?" The librarian cum knife-wielding stalker seemed to be deep in thought. "You mean Minato, don't you?"

Maiko gasped. "Yeah… How do you know him?"

"He was a friend. He isn't coming back."

An intense, perhaps slightly misguided rage erupted in Maiko's heart. A friend? He was a _friend_, and Amada had given up on finding him. "Why?"

"On the night of The Fall, Nyx was to eradicate all life on Earth. Minato gave away his soul, and eventually his life to seal Nyx away. He can't return, otherwise The Fall will too."

Maiko was silent for what felt like a long while. "What if somebody summoned Nyx?"

Ken Amada's face turned stone cold. "What exactly do you mean by that?"

"If somebody were to… bring upon The Fall, would he come back?"

"Is that why you asked me for these materials?"

Maiko remained silent.

"I can't let that happen. This is the end of the world, Oohashi. Do you have a death wish?"

Maiko considered this. She remembered the scene at the train station yesterday, and the state of her life. She didn't have any friends, her mother was a bitch, and her father was worse, and marrying a tramp. She could see the evil in the world, and she soaked it up like a sponge. She decided right then and there that if she couldn't save Minato by bringing about The Fall, she would save the world. Not a single other tear will ever be shed, and it would be all because of her.

"I know what I'm doing." _And I am thou…_

Amada approached with his weapon in hand and a somewhat remorseful expression on his face.

"Sorry, Maiko."

As he drew his weapon back to strike, Maiko's sight faded to white, and an intense heat surrounded her for just a second. When her sight returned, she found her room ablaze and another dark figure standing before her, glowing a brilliant blue. It turned its head toward Maiko as she noticed Ken Amada lying motionless against her dresser, suitcase and knife at his side.

"I am _Yomotsu-Shikome, _and I will fight with you." It was the same voice, and same creature from the dream, except this time Maiko fully understood.

"Per…so…_na_."

Yomotsu-Shikome disappeared, and in a rush, Maiko packed a bag with the clothes strewn on her bed and a couple of books about Nyx. She ran out of her room and down the stairs, the smoke alarm blaring incessantly. She could hear coughing and shuffling upstairs, but couldn't bring herself to stop. She threw the door open and collapsed on the lawn. After catching her breath, the door flew open, and her father was standing in the alcove, fire extinguisher in hand.

"What have you done, Maiko?" His voice was a confusing mixture of fury, fear and despair. "What have you done?"

The scene was surreal. Her bedroom upstairs now had flames pouring through the window, licking the ridge of the roof. Her father was in the doorway in his singed pyjamas, tears streaming from his blackened face. She couldn't take it. Maiko lost control. Yomotsu-Shikome burst from her mind in blue light, spreading the black, snake-like appendages that wrapped its body. A high pitched shriek pierced both Maiko and her father's ears as another wall of fire materialised and flew towards her father's townhouse. The last thing Maiko remembered seeing was the colour draining from her father's wide-eyed face just before he, along with his entire house, its contents and its residents were incinerated.

Maiko could feel her energy waning as she ran down to the end of the cul-de-sac on which her father lived, and into the pitch-black creek bed which ran horizontally a few feet from the road like a T. As she made her way along the damp, stinky pebbles that lined the bottom of the creek, she could hear the sirens of several fire engines blaring in the distance, becoming louder and louder. She looked at the sky, and the once crystal clear night sky was smothered in thick black smoke, and made bright by the tall flames rising from the Oohashi house. Maiko suddenly felt like she couldn't walk for much longer. The creek ran into a tunnel about two hundred metres in front of her, and she figured she'd be safe in there. Of course, it was probably infested with spiders or rats, but it didn't even occur to Maiko. She had just somehow incinerated a librarian, her father, her father's fiancée and her father's house. She needed an aspirin, or a strong drink. Or sleep, the thought of which made Maiko smile. She crawled into the tunnel upon reaching it, and lay down on her bag, which was soft and stuffed with clothes. Her consciousness began to slip as she watched the smoke from her house blow across the sky, and shortly after, she fell asleep.

Maiko awoke with a jolt. Something sharp had just poked her in the leg.

"Ah," someone yelped, "she's alive!"

Maiko opened her eyes and turned around to meet the bewildered gaze of a young boy holding a young stick. Another boy a few feet behind him was sitting on a bicycle, also watching in awe.

"Uh, you all right, lady? We thought you was dead."

"I'm fine."

"Well, we saw you here yesterday and we was coming back today to see if you were still here."

Maiko was confused. "Yesterday…? What day is it?"

"W-Wednesday," the boy said, a little unnerved. Maiko had apparently been asleep for two days. "We found you here Monday afternoon, and we freaked out."

"I need to go."

"Wait, lady, what's your name?"

"Never mind, get out of my way."

Maiko pushed past the boy, and broke into a sprint in the general direction of the train station. She could hear the boys yelling excitedly in the distance.

The Iwatodai strip mall was bustling. The boys were not lying; the large clock above the train station read nine o' clock, and the newspaper that Maiko picked up from a stand just outside the takoyaki stand had the date – Wednesday – below the title. Maiko scanned the front page of the newspaper, nothing catching her eye. _Local lawyer found dehydrated and incoherent twenty kilometres from house_, _New survey shows Iwatodai to be second unhappiest city in Japan_, _Investigation into fatal fire continues_. She was about to put the newspaper down, when she noticed a familiar face on the newspaper. It was, in fact, her father's. Her stomach dropped, and her hands began shaking as she read the rest of the article.

'_Police and forensic investigators have not had any luck determining the cause of the blaze early Monday morning in East Iwatodai City which claimed the lives of the entire Oohashi family. Bodies found in the house are believed to belong to Keitaro Oohashi, who was found in the kitchen, and Maiko Oohashi, who was found in her bedroom with a kunai engraved with the name 'Koromaru'. The fire, which is believed to have begun in the kitchen, is being treated as suspicious, as the positioning of the bodies continues to confuse police. The investigation continues. Pictured: Keitaro Oohashi, an accountant for Yamato Engineering, who perished in the fire with his daughter on Monday morning.'_

'Hey," the takoyaki vendor beckoned, "awful, isn't it. The fire, I mean."

"Y-yeah…" Maiko stammered.

"I wonder what happened. It's being treated as suspicious, you know. Luckily the mother wasn't home, though. Oh, the poor dear. I wonder how she is. The police must be keeping her away from the media."

"There isn't a mother, she lives…" Maiko gasped.

"Oh, did you know the family?"  
Maiko was silent. A father and daughter were found in the blaze… the body found in her bedroom was most certainly not hers, and was probably the body of Ken Amada. The body in the kitchen was her father's… what about her father's fiancé? Maiko began to panic. Did she escape? Would she tell? Did she even know? Maiko's heart was beating faster and harder than ever in her entire life.

"Oh, dear, look here," the takoyaki vendor said, pointing to the television store next door. The chief of police was holding a press conference, and the caption at the bottom of the screen read 'Fatal fire body discovery'. Maiko relaxed. They must have found the body of Sora Megumi. Maiko felt a bit sick that the thought calmed her, but dismissed it as the press conference started.

"The police would like to announce a discovery regarding the Oohashi house fire. The house has been turned upside-down looking for human remains, and yet another hurdle has presented itself to us. The body in the kitchen has been identified as that of Keitaro Oohashi using DNA provided from a recent sample collected at his workplace in previous months, but the body in the bedroom of Maiko Oohashi is not hers. Using the DNA of Keitaro Oohashi, the body is not related to him, and is _male_. I repeat, the body in Maiko Oohashi's bedroom is _male_. His identity has not been found, but the police are working on the assumption he is called, or is attached to the name 'Koromaru'."

Maiko's heartbeat picked up its rapid pace again, and she began to feel very sick.

"Police have not found any other bodies in the house. Police are currently interested in speaking to Ms. Oohashi, who is seventeen years old, and up until yesterday, was dependant on Keitaro Oohashi. Police would also like to speak to Oohashi's fiancé, Sora Megumi." Photos of both Maiko and Sora appeared on the screen. "Anybody who can give police the whereabouts of these women is strongly urged to call the police department on the following special number, which is on the screen now. Thank you." The sound of reporters yelling questions, and the sound of cameras flashing took over, and the media conference ended. A cooking program then began. Maiko turned to the takoyaki vendor, whose expression was for some reason mortified. She pointed at Maiko, hand wavering. "Y-you're…"

After a couple of seconds, Maiko realised why the woman was making such a fuss.

She was surely going to be recognised now. Luckily, the strip mall had begun clearing out as the trains into the city and beyond began taking commuters to work. This made escape a cinch, as Maiko sprinted away, weaving between the few people that were left browsing the stalls. Amongst the faces that noticed Maiko, there were three distinct expressions; one of nonchalance, one of contempt (which was the one Maiko noticed most often as she was bumping into people everywhere), and the worst, one of shocked recognition. One or two people called out 'hey!' or 'Oohashi!' but Maiko took no notice and kept running. Once she was away from the strip mall and behind the alcove of a seedy adult book store, Maiko took a deep breath and contemplated what she needed to do next. What was there to do? She had killed her father and a stranger. It was technically self-defence, but who would believe what really happened? She would be put away in a loony bin, if not a jail. Eventually, her father's fiancé would come forward and claim that Maiko started the fire because of a fight over pancakes and her father remarrying, and it would be set in stone. She had motive, and she was in the right state of mind. Well, any lawyer could argue that. She thought about this. Motive. She had killed Ken Amada in self-defence, but her father? Maiko felt the last drip of warmth fall from her heart, and she knew what she was going to do. She was going to bring about The Fall, if not to save Minato, to cleanse the world of pain, of her father's fiancé and the woman at the takoyaki stand, and of any chance of apprehension. In that moment, Maiko hated the world more intensely than anything she had felt in her life.

**To be continued**


End file.
